Signature: Oblong folioMaroon velvet coverUpper cover with gilt Russian title as above and crowned cypher with entwined initials "AM"Printed captions in Russian on cardsEach mount blindstamped with atelier mark of the St. Panteleimon Monastery

A unique collection of photographs, probably a gift to the future Emperor Alexander III on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Feodorovna, nee Princess Dagmar of Denmark, on 20 October / 2 November 1866 in St. Petersburg. They illustrate not only the Russian monastery of St, Panteleimon, but also the other communities of different nationalities on Mount Athos including Xeropotamou, Simonos Petra, Gregoriou, Dionysiou, Saint Paul, Saint Athanasios, Caracallou, Filofei, Iviron, Kolomush, Karyai, Serai, Stavronikita, Pantocratoros, Vatopaidiou, Esphigmenou, Chilandari, Zografou, Kostmonit, Dohiariou, Xenophontas, and other small communities and buildings.

The earliest photographs of Mount Athos appear to have been taken by the Frenchmen Ernest de Caranza in 1852-53 (see Alkis X. Xanthakis. A HISTORY OF GREEK PHOTOGRAPHY 1839-1960 (Athens, 1988)), but few other photographers apparently entered the Holy Mountain whose images have survived."

Pierre Apraxine: "This is an exceedingly rare album, confirmed byYanni Petsopoulos, the Byzantine art consultant to the De Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, as well as a dealer in London, close to the Mount Athos authorities. Some of the photographs may pre-date 1866 by as much as ten years."